The Mysterious Festival of Rosh Hashanah

Introduction

The festival of Rosh Hashanah is one which gets a lot of play time in the Jewish world. It is described as the Jewish New year, and we celebrate it with apples and honey, long services in Shul, and very serious sermons regarding the best way to start off the year, because it is the time when the world is judged. The Torah on the other hand has very little to say about the festival. This is what it does say:

(24) Speak to the Bnei Yisrael saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a remembrance commemorated with loud blasts. (25) You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall bring an offering by fire to GOD.

There is no mention here of the day being one in which the world is judged, or that this is the Jewish new year. There are no apples and no honey. There are no long sermons. The only defining characteristics of the day are that there should be “complete rest” and there should be “loud blasts” which we connect together with the Shofar, and the blowing which takes place. How has this description of the Torah morphed into the festival that we know today? This tension between the Torah’s brevity and the richness of later practice invites the classical commentators to explain what the verse is really teaching us.

Rashi and the Abarbanel

Rashi explains the verses relating to Rosh Hashanah in the following way:

It is a remembrance of the verses which relate to G-d’s remembering, and verses which relate to blowing of the Shofar. The purpose is to remind them of the binding of Isaac in which a ram was brought by Avraham instead of his son Isaac.

Rashi’s interpretation is fascinating. He says that the word “remembrance” here relates to verses which relate to G-d’s remembrance, and the blowing of the Shofar. Also, he mentions that the purpose of blowing the ram’s horn is to commemorate the binding of Isaac. If this is the case, surely the verse should explicitly state what it means to state!

While Rashi helps us understand the symbolic content of the day, the Abarbanel takes the discussion in a different direction, focusing instead on the day’s character as one of judgment. The Abarbanel explains the day to be a day of judgement, quoting the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah 8a-b which states:

From where is it known that the day of judgment is in Tishrei? As it is written: “Blow a shofar at the New Moon, at the covered time for our Festival day” (Psalms 81:4). Which is the Festival day on which the moon is covered, i.e., hidden? You must say that this is Rosh HaShana, which is the only Festival that occurs at the beginning of a month, when the moon cannot be seen. And it is written in the next verse: “For this is a statute for Israel, a judgment of the God of Jacob” (Psalms 81:5), implying that this is the day of judgment.

While Rashi at least attempts to explain the source in terms of Rosh Hashanah, the Abarbanel skips interpreting the verse directly, using the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah which uses a verse from Psalms instead! His reason for doing this is that he wants to discuss the essence of judgement on Rosh Hashanah and how it differs from daily judgement. While this is a very important topic, I do not believe that the Abarbanel has given the verse itself sufficient consideration.

Also, judgment alone does not fully capture the religious mood of Rosh Hashanah. In my next essay, The Netziv introduces another layer by showing that the shofar itself contains different emotional tones.